The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics

Edited by Casey B. Hart - Contributions by Hsuan-Yi Chou; Mark D. Cruea; Steve Cuff; Casey B. Hart; Brent Kice; Bjarke Liboriussen; Casey O'Donnell; Jan Švelch; Christopher Terry; Shaojung Sharon Wang and Emma Whatman

Today, consumers of video games spend over $22.4 billion each year; using more complex and multi-layered strategies, game developers attempt to extend the profitability of their products from a simple one-time sale, to continuous engagement with the consumer. The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics examines paradigmatic changes in the economic structure of the video game industry from a media effects and game design perspective. This book explores how game developers have changed how they engage players in order to facilitate continuous financial transactions. Contributors look from the advent of microtransactions and downloadable content (DLCs) to the impact of planned obsolescence, impulse buying, and emotional control. This collection takes a broad view of the game dynamics and market forces that drive the video game industry, and features international contributors from Asia, Europe, and Australia.

Lexington Books

Pages: 180 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-4985-4341-5 • Hardback • July 2017 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4985-4343-9 • Paperback • February 2020 • $43.99 • (£35.00)

978-1-4985-4342-2 • eBook • July 2017 • $41.50 • (£35.00)

Series: Studies in New Media

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Social Science / Media Studies, Games & Activities / Video & Electronic

The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Today, consumers of video games spend over $22.4 billion each year; using more complex and multi-layered strategies, game developers attempt to extend the profitability of their products from a simple one-time sale, to continuous engagement with the consumer. The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics examines paradigmatic changes in the economic structure of the video game industry from a media effects and game design perspective. This book explores how game developers have changed how they engage players in order to facilitate continuous financial transactions. Contributors look from the advent of microtransactions and downloadable content (DLCs) to the impact of planned obsolescence, impulse buying, and emotional control. This collection takes a broad view of the game dynamics and market forces that drive the video game industry, and features international contributors from Asia, Europe, and Australia.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 180 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-4985-4341-5 • Hardback • July 2017 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4985-4343-9 • Paperback • February 2020 • $43.99 • (£35.00)

978-1-4985-4342-2 • eBook • July 2017 • $41.50 • (£35.00)

Series: Studies in New Media

Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Communication Studies, Social Science / Media Studies, Games & Activities / Video & Electronic

Author

Casey B. Hart is associate professor in the Department of Mass Communication at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction
Casey Hart
1. "Show me the money!" - Shifting Fields of Capital in the Global Game Industry
Casey O’Donnell
1. Nintendo’s Retro Revolution: Commodified Nostalgia and the Virtual Console
Steve Cuff and Christopher Terry
1. Business Models, Planned Obsolescence, Externalities: Examining the Virtual Hand of the Video Game Industry
Mark D. Cruea
1. Prestige: A Cyclical Act for Consumer Control
Brent Kice
1. Free-to-play? Considering the interaction of functional factors in video game design influencing the economic effectiveness of microtransactions
Casey Hart
1. P(l)aying Pretty: Consuming Fairy Tales and Device Applications
Emma Whatman
1. Playing with and against Microtransactions: The Discourses of Microtransactions Acceptance and Rejection in Mainstream Video Games
Jan Švelch
1. Smart Players and Happy Consumers: Effects of Game Characteristics and Player Emotional Experiences on in-App Ad Responses
Hsuan-Yi Chou and Shaojung Sharon Wang
1. Gold Farming in China—and in Western Academia, Journalism, and Fiction
Bjarke Liboriussen

About the Editor and Contributors

Reviews

With the volume, Dr. Hart invites readers to engage a wide variety of academic perspectives that discuss shifts in video game production and marketing in the face of an evolving and maturing gaming public. These essays offer a far more complex and compelling discussion beyond a “dollars and cents” economic analysis of the video game industry; they also provide insight into the interplay between the industry and how it creates and markets games for changing audiences.
— Nicholas D. Bowman, West Virginia University

There is a web of critical issues at play in the economic world of games, and Hart’s collection begins to untangle them. These essays start a much needed conversation about the unseen economic motivations in gaming culture.
— Sky LaRell Anderson, Denison University

The reality of the video game industry is that it is a business and economic forces have tremendous impact upon its growth and development. The Evolution and Social Impact of Video Game Economics functions as a valuable guide to game scholars for understanding how such forces interact with the games that they play and study.
— Matthew Wysocki, Flagler College